ChunOn Loc: Washington

Took at Olmstead Viewpoint along Tioga Road of Yosemite NP. It was a foggy morning. I shot this photo trying to capture the beauty of the trunk, how it embraces the rocks and the gradual fading foggy background. The vanishing point is where the rocks tucked into the trunk. Settings: f/4; 1/320; ISO100; 12mm; Center Weighted Average metering; auto WB. Used Adobe PS for minor editing and cropping.

Please critique. Thanks!

(Download)

letmedance Loc: Walnut, Ca.

I do not often comment but this is a wall hanger. Cannot say anything more, just awesome.

jgordon Loc: Boulder CO

Beautiful image.

If it were mine I might consider cropping a little off the right edge to get rid of the the partial green tree branches extending into the image from beyond the frame.

Also, I might take a little off on the left edge of the photo just up to the lowest left edge of the tree trunk -- to get of the little white shapes on the lowest left corner of the image. Or, I suppose you could clone those out, but that sounds like more work. (Does any of that make any sense?)

But those tiny (and less than critical) issues aside -- I really like this.

ChunOn Loc: Washington

letmedance:

I am a new member and is the first time that I post photo asking for critique. I am so excited to get this kind of encouraging comments. Thanks!

ChunOn Loc: Washington

jgordon:

Thanks for the comments. I will try your suggestion and see the difference!

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

Welcome to the Critique Section! Hope you'll spend more time with us, share more wonderful photos like this one, and offer your assistance to those who post here.

This is a really nice image. That I know this place pretty well only increased my pleasure. Interesting and creative composition with the tree as the foreground/left and center of interest and the other supporting characters in the story moving from front to back/right with some slipping into the fog. Nice detail and color even on a cloudy/foggy day (my favorite time to shoot though).Everything is very harmonious. I wondered if it might be improved by eliminating the stray pieces of bushes on the right, but when I held up a piece of paper to "crop" it onscreen, I found I liked it better the way you have it. I might have wanted to include more of the roots (because I like roots) but you probably had good reasons for not doing so. As is, you have a nice, intimate little clutch of elements on the right corner that make the viewer feel a part of the scene.

The only nitpicky question I'd have is that the little flowers in the front seem to have lost some detail in the magenta. The greens seem well detailed, and there are even water drops clearly focused. Maybe it's just something with the conversion within this website, which wreaks havoc on colors sometimes.

Maybe this was a Nurse Rock? These glacial erratics around Olmstead Pt are so wonderful to photograph. I have lots of photos of them, some of which I've posted on this section, but none like this!

carlysue Loc: Columbus

I love the variances in the wood colors of the tree subject, ChunOn, as well as the texture in the boulders. My thought would be to clone out the green leaves on the right edge as well as the pink flowers along that same edge in front of that rock. I agree with jgordon in that that bright white area on the lower left should be cloned out as the white makes your eye go there. I really like the fog and those evergreen trees in the background as gives this image a sense of location.

ChunOn Loc: Washington

Miniev,

Thanks for your comments. I don't know why the red color of the flower is like that. Yes, I really like the Olmstead Point and the scenery around there especially after rain and then sunny with cloud floating slowly across the mountain slopes and sky. Huangshan in China is very famous for the "Sea of Cloud"!

ChunOn

letmedance Loc: Walnut, Ca.

Huangshan is one of my favorite vacation spots, the scenery is awesome, the walkways nailed into the stone cliffs are a little intimidating.

ChunOn Loc: Washington

carlysue,

Thanks for sharing your thought about how you view this picture. I learn something from this. I will try your suggestion and see the effect.

ChunOn Loc: Washington

letmedance,

I've been there once and is absolutely beautiful, especially after raining and the sun come out. If I know how to post pictures here, I will share some of them.

mcveed Loc: Kelowna, British Columbia (between trips)

The mood, exposure, and colour are excellent. I like the feeling of depth that the fog gives to the scene. What I find disappointing is that the foreground is not sharp. The bark on the main feature tree is soft compared with the needles on the tree in the centre of the frame. F4 is probably not the best aperture for a scene of this depth.

ChunOn Loc: Washington

jgordon and carlysue,

I tried your suggestion and like to let you know my feedback. I definitely agree to exclude the white space at the lower left hand corner. As for the branches near upper right hand corner, the inclusion will create kind of framing effect. Without it, it gives openness feel. So, it all depends on individual's liking.

ChunOn Loc: Washington

mcveed, that's a very good critique about the sharpness of the trunk. I guess either I have to get the focus right on the trunk (same DOF) or use an aperture of 5 or 5.6 if I want to include the tree in the middle of the photo to be "sharp" (longer DOF). Again, thanks for pointing that out to me.

waltchilds Loc: Central Florida

ChunOn, I also wanted to welcome you to the Critique section. This is a truly beautiful image. The colors and tones are really good and the way you processed it brings out all the richness of this image making it look almost like a painting. Nice work.